During
World War II, a U.S. Marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific
island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the
crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.
Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his
direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge
to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one
of the caves. Although safe for the moment, he realized that once
the enemy soldiers looking for him came up the ridge, they would
quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.
As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please
protect me. Whatever is your will, I love you and trust you. Amen."
After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw
close. He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help
me out of this one." Then he saw a spider begin to build a
web over the front of his cave.
As
he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while,
the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening
of the cave.
"Hah," he thought. "What I need is a brick wall and
what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense
of humor."
As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout
and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came
to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however,
after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on. Suddenly,
he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave
looked as if no one had entered for quite a while.
"Lord,
forgive me," prayed the young man. "I had forgotten that
in you a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall."
We all face times of great trouble. When we do, it is so easy to
forget that God is always working, always faithful in our lives.
Often in the most surprising ways.
Semper
Fidelis
